Just seen Douglas Ross calling for an inquiry into SG handling of the pandemic so here is a short thread on why I think it's bad politics by the new Scottish Tory Leader. (1/11)

Inquiries allow governments to set the terms of reference, process and timescale, meaning they get to reframe the entire narrative. (2/11)

Governments have to provide information to said inquiry so know in advance what the tricky issues might be and, with a good comms plan, get out ahead of them or even take action to fix them. (3/11)

Just witness when governments “accept all the recommendations” in reports. It’s because they already guessed what those recommendations were going to be and can take any sting out of them. (4/11)

Whilst the inquiry is ongoing, governments have a clear excuse not to answer questions, with an added line of “You asked for this inquiry to be why won’t you wait for its conclusions.” (5/11)

During that time, governments can use their vastly larger comms resources to appear rational, deliberative and professional in contrast to a partisan, grandstanding opposition hunting for a headline. (6/11)

We’ve seen this already with the way the Scottish Government has reframed the SQA debacle. (7/11)

Inquiries take months, if not years, by which time much of the heat and public anger will likely have gone from the issue because of the above actions by government. (8/11)

In the case of the current call for an immediate Covid-19 inquiry, it won’t report until after the election anyway. (9/11)

For all of the above reasons and more, SG could ensure its impact on the campaign is minimal and the current administration could even take credit for fixing the problems as well (again witness the way SQA has played out.) (10/11)

So, if it were me I would get that inquiry setup toot sweet and have a comms plan behind it that will work to my advantage. (11/11)